SLS ~ Smells Like Sour

11 years is a very long time for anything web-based. That's why it's with a great deal of sadness that I announce the Smells Like Sour (SLS) franchise has died a natural death.

SLS was a "hypothetical" collection of new tunes that we "released" twice a calendar year. All editions of SLS consisted of 20 songs the SLS committee deemed to be the best new music since the previous instalment of SLS. We "released" new editions of SLS around Canada Day and Christmas Day. The last one, #22, came out New Year's Eve 2009. The last song nominated was Metric's "Gold Gun Girls" back on February 8, 2010.

SLS was a labour of love. In the beginning, I'd come up with the 20 songs I liked, my buddy Mark would come up with the 20 songs he liked, and we'd meet at a Tim Hortons and negotiate. I won a few battles, and I lost a few battles. I still hate that Andy Stochansky song!

Back in the day, fantastic discussions took place at http://www.smellslikesour.com/, but then life and work and other priorities got in the way. That site's been badly neglected for years, my buddy dropped out of the SLS process a while ago and I haven't been feeling it since my favourite radio station turned me off.

22 editions over 11 years is a pretty good run. I'm going to keep the SLS Song Database online and, from now on when I hear a tune I dig, I'll just blog about it.

I came very close to ending SLS at #21. 2009 has seemed like a abnormally weak year for music. I read the "too cool for school" blogs, sampled Merriweather Post Pavilion and other such "it" albums, and was left underwhelmed. Every other year of this decade produced an album that got me jazzed, but this year the closest I came to getting really excited about an album was Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.

But I decided to keep SLS going. 2010 may be a better year for music, and I'd like the franchise to be alive to reap the benefits. Here's the final song list for SLS22. For an SLS primer, go here.

I'm submitting a song for SLS22 consideration. I'm submitting "Don't Haunt This Place" by The Rural Alberta Advantage.

Brian turned me on to this tune and I totally dig it. This is precisely the kind of tunage we should be hearing on CFNY / Edge 102.1. It's new rock, it's great and these guys are based in Toronto. Have a listen to a little RAA.